Robot Reviews

ROS or Robot Operating System is being introduced as an open source OS specially designed for those artificially-intelligent machines. There's a reason why robot haters might love this bit of info.

While we may be mesmerized by the latest breakthroughs made in the field of robotics, the rate of its progress can still be accelerated. What's more, robots still have to reach that level of ubiquity that PCs have breached more than two decades ago. 

If what happened to personal computers in the early 80's is any indication, we might actually be seeing that same phenomena in robotics as the gears of building a common operating system for these machines are set into motion.

Having a common operating system definitely has lots of benefits. Just look at how personal computing not only went mainstream but also continues to get a torrential supply of diverse applications ever since the vast majority of computer users began using one operating system, Windows.

Although a simplified analogy would be to Windows, open source advocates should be quick to point out Linux as a better analogy in the field of personal computing when we talk about this particular OS. The reason being that ROS is an open source project, just like Linux.

However, there's one big difference between the conditions surrounding ROS's entry now and Linux's back then. When Linus Torvalds introduced Linux to the public in the early 90's, Microsoft's Windows (and even its predecessor, DOS) was already well-entrenched in offices and households.

ROS is being introduced at a time when no operating system for robots lords over the rest, much like when DOS was just starting out. Another big advantage might just come to the side of ROS too - the almost fanatical following of open source advocates.  

If ROS can manage to gather steam in the open source community, then I won't be surprised if we're going to see an accelerated interest in robot development (specifically in the software side) in the next couple of years.

There's one thing about this development that just might make those individuals wary of Terminator Judgement Day scenarios breathe easy - the open source component. Just like all open source projects, ROS will be transparent to the entire community ... or the entire world, if you want.

Thus, since it is open source, anybody can scrutinize it and suggest modifications that may prevent the host machines from turning into renegade Terminators.

You can find out more information about the ROS Robot Operating System at Willow Garage.